Florida State vs. Georgia Tech preview: THE SEASON RETURNS! | Always College Football

okay moving in now to our Florida state Georgia Tech preview know this game is going to be played in Dublin Ireland should be an exciting one you can watch it noon Eastern Time on ESPN overall thoughts here 13th time that Georgia Tech Will face a top 10 Florida State team the seols have won the last 11 meetings but in 2015 they lost on a game-winning blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown as time expired that was actually Georgia Tech's last win against a top 10 opponent they have since lost 15 straight Georgia Tech's coming off their first Bowl appearance since 2018 they beat UCF in the gas Barilla Bowl so they have not reached a bowl game consecutive Seasons since reaching 18 straight from 1997 to 2014 Florida State coming off an ACCC title but a lot of new faces there for Mike norell Mike norell he's constantly utilized the transfer portal has not been something that's been new to him since 2020 Florida state has brought in 67 transfers the only Power five team that has more without a coaching change are the Old Miss Rebels and we all know that lane kein is the portal King the biggest most notable transfer for Mike norell I guess figuratively and literally DJ oui Ang now comes in he's one of 17 transfers that Mike norell brought in this season 10 guys off last year's team team were drafted in the NFL draft so they had to reinforce some of those departures with key con key contributors that can step right in and play DJ OU angal though if you look back at his time at Clemson it's viewed somewhat negatively but that's mostly because of what he did or didn't do back in 2021 if you look at his performance in 22 is actually pretty admirable uh granted got replaced at the end of the season by Cade kumnick but it wasn't a bad year I mean went 11- two as a starting quarterback he also I think did a pretty good job of having a qbr of 64 averaged almost two 200 yards game had 22 to7 touchdown interception ratio last year he just built on that at 2023 at Oregon State he was eight and4 he had an 81 total qbr threw for 220 a game and had touchdown interception of 21 to7 so he's been progressing as a player in each of the last three years as a starting quarterback now on the other side the quarterback that he'll be going up against also a transfer from Texas A&M Haynes King is back to lead the Georgia Tech offense really really fast okay but what he showed last year is that he's pretty dang good throwing the football as well uh he led the ACC in passing touchdowns had 27 he also added 10 on the ground so those 37 touchdowns that he was responsible for was the most in the ACC and tied for eighth in the FBS last year he's not alone offensively they bring back basically their entire offensive core in 2024 Haynes King's back their leading passer their leading rusher Jamal Haynes is back and their top two leading receivers from last year Eric Singleton and Malik Rutherford are all back so Georgia Tech is one of four ACC teams to do that along with Virginia Tech and Stanford and SMU George Tech returns 83% of their offensive production from 2023 that is ninth in the college football World some of the keys here some of the biggest keys are very obvious okay first and foremost Georgia Tech's biggest Achilles heel last year was stopping the run and we know what they're going to be up against Mike norell and how they scheme the runs amazing we know that Lawrence toafili is going to see an increased role it's one of the featured backs we know royell Williams transferred over from Alabama but toofy and Roy Dale Williams I think they complement each other really nicely toa's very versatile Roy Dell's really a one cut back that wants to get downhill and we know that Toof he's even played wildcat in the past it's a really solid group onew punch that is dynamic and they're going against a defense that has a new defensive coordinator in Tyler santui he transfers over from duke they're going to be implementing that 425 scheme he was with Mike Elco as the DC there at Dukes so it's going to bring in a new system and one that is challenging for the opposing quarterback but traditionally has been very sound against the Run they need it because Georgia Tech last year was among the worst in the country against the Run they gave up 221 rushing yards per game that was 130th they gave up 5.4 yards per Rush that was 13th and they gave up 88 rushes of 10 plus yards that was 132nd remember there's only 133 FB s teams so you take that into account they were one of the worst in the sport against the Run they're going to have to be better and they have beefed things up with some impact transfers from the power four but will they be good enough to slow down what should be an excellent rushing attack question and key number two can Florida State protect DJ oui young lay and DJ gets hit when DJ gets fooled that's when things get a little bit sideways Tyler say sanui and Duke and Mike elco's system that sanui is now implemented at Georgia Tech is a very difficult system to play against they can play with your eyes they can overload your protections and they can force you to throw in places where they want you to throw which means the quarterback's going to have to be really really smart but it's hard to be smart when you don't have a lot of time to diagnose what the defense is doing so if Florida State can protect DJ oui angay that will go a long way in making their passing game successful we know they have the Personnel up front tons of experience back on the offensive line but if you can hit DJI anle if you can pressure him if you can get guys unblocked going at him his adjusted completion percentage and his turnover worthy plays go up drastically so keep an eye on that the problem is Yellow Jackets front seven talked about some of the transfer portal additions that they made new defenses basically to eliminate big plays and they have guys up front it should be decent against the run with what they've added but there's not really anyone on the front that is an above average or a high level pass rusher that we know about at this moment so can they do it without bringing additional pressure because that could put their back end and a bit of a liability for those big plays that dju likes to lean on the other question is can Florida State stop the run because if there's one thing that Georgia Tech does extremely well is that they run the football all right last year they averaged 204 rushing yards a game that was first in the ACC they averaged five and a half yards a carry that was first they had 85 carries of 10 plus yards that was first and they had 24 rushing touchdowns that was sixth so this is one of the best rushing attacks in the entire country and there's a bunch of pieces back for Florida State but there are some new pieces that are playing increased roles and they did lose some real difference makers along the defensive line last year like Jared verse they had Patrick Peyton back they had farmer back they have Daryl Jackson back we talked about him a little bit earlier so they should be in a good spot up front but there are question marks at the second level as well where they have a bunch of guys that departed the program from a year ago can Florida State stop the run that is question number three and then finally can Georgia Tech avoid the obvious passing situations we know that when Georgia Tech is on schedule and when they run the football they're going to be in a great spot but if they get behind the sticks if they have an incompletion if they take a sack that's when Florida state is one of their best they were six in the f PS last year and opponent's third down conversion they are really good at Rushing the quarterback really really good at Rushing the quarterback so watch those Defenders on the edges of the defense Marvin Jones Patrick Peyton those two guys breathe fire and if they know a pass play is coming you can expect them pinning their ears back and coming after the quarterback with unbelievable intensity so Georgia Tech going to have to be really good on first and second down to avoid those obvious passes situations some Trends in the game as you know if you're new to the show we always give you a couple Trends do with them what you wish it's your choice the yellow jackets were seven- two against the spread last year as an underdog Florida State won the last meeting by 20 uh 4116 that was when they were a 23-point favorite Brent key at that point was still the interim head coach but prior to that where Florida State covered Georgia Tech actually covered seven straight against Florida state Georgia Tech is 4-0 straight up and against the spread against ranked ACC foes last year they pulled upsets over pit North Carolina twice and Miami and Georgia Tech is 10 and five against the spread against ACC foes under Brent key they're getting double digits here so all that being said I think Florida State handles their business but I think it will be a very competitive game Florida State ultimately starts season one and0 but don't be surprised if it's a four quarter contest and at some point it's a little stressful for the seminal